Lessons in Integration: What can be learned?
The question remains: after more than three decades of cooperation, what lessons have regional integration brought? What can ASEAN learn from the EU experience?
Former Secretary-General of ASEAN Rodolfo Severino has stated that “ASEAN does not intend to go the way of the EU all the way, but it can learn many things from the European experience by way of practical measures. It is up to ASEAN’s member-states to adapt and apply those measures that are necessary for integrating the Southeast Asian economy” (Severino, 2006).
With this caveat, there are three main lessons worth considering for regional integration experiences in ASEAN and the EU.
1. Integration processes are not really comparable, though their fundamentals are similar
Many like benchmarking ASEAN’s progress to that of the EU’s. There is a tendency to project the EU as a model for ASEAN and to propose the European way of integration as applicable to ASEAN as well. The EU’s commitment to pooling sovereignty for common gains has been cited as key to an integrated community. On the other hand, ASEAN pursues integration without yielding individual sovereignty of member states. This has created the impression that the EU is a supra-national body in a way that ASEAN cannot or does not aspire to be. The principles of inter-state relations enshrined in the ASEAN Charter reiterate respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and national identity. Yet, the two organisations are more similar in their decision-making processes than is generally acknowledged.
ASEAN has often been criticised for its non-interference principle and consensus requirement. The inability to reach consensus – in July 2012 – on ASEAN’s collective position on activities of claimant states in the South China Sea has had a negative impact on ASEAN’s credibility in maintaining regional unity.
The EU depends on unanimity – not just consensus – for its major decisions. The image of the EU’s supra-national authority has also been recently shattered as the Eurozone crisis evolves. Individual members have made their (national) preferences prevail at the regional table[1]. Regional consensus cannot be forged without taking into consideration the national interests of individual members.